


Unexpected

by Candyoranges



Category: Victor Victoria (1982)
Genre: Coming Out, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21842611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Candyoranges/pseuds/Candyoranges
Summary: This whole trip to Paris had been nothing like Squash had expected – even with all the varied things he’d done on behalf of Mr. Marchand over the years. While his boss would probably claim that the trip went off the expected rails when he became obsessed with Count Victor, for Squash it was meeting Mr. Todd.
Relationships: Squash Bernstein/Carole "Toddy" Todd
Comments: 15
Kudos: 30
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Unexpected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tablelamp](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tablelamp/gifts).



This whole trip to Paris had been nothing like Squash had expected – even with all the varied things he’d done on behalf of Mr. Marchand over the years. He’d anticipated the normal routine of shadowing his boss and Norma while they checked out various clubs and restaurants, with a side helping of keeping Norma away when she started annoying the Boss too much. (Honestly, Squash really didn’t see what his boss found attractive about her – his own lack of attraction to any woman aside – but since she was the Boss’s girl, he put up with her and her whining.) 

While his boss would probably claim that the trip went off the expected rails when he became obsessed with Count Victor, the female impersonator, for Squash it was meeting Mr. Todd. Squash had caught quite a bit of the other man’s conversation with Norma, and it had taken his breath away. To be so free and unapologetic about who he was and who he loved – it was inspiring. He’d known that Paris was far more liberal than Chicago, but it was in that moment that the bodyguard had first become infatuated with the older singer.

With his boss’s fixation on the Count, it was inevitable that he’d meet Mr. Todd again, but he hadn’t expected the other man to seek him out when Squash had been relegated to his own table while his boss proposed a contract to the Count. He definitely hadn’t expected Mr. Todd to flirt with him.

_“I hope you don’t mind if I join you. I can’t stand to see a handsome man dine alone.”_

_“I thought you’d want to stay with the young man you already have.” Squash had replied, glancing over at the other table where the Count was directing an arch look at the Boss._

_“Oh, Victor can take care of himself for one evening.” The singer had scoffed with a negligent flick of his hand. “Now, come, I’m sure we can have much more exciting dinner conversation than their contract negotiations over there.”_

_“What did you want to talk about, Mr. Todd?”_

_“Well, first of all you must call me Toddy. All my friends do, and I have the feeling we shall be seeing much more of each other if Victor is to sing at your boss’s club.”_

And indeed, he had seen much more of Mr. Todd – _Toddy_ – as time passed. Squash admitted to himself that the mischievous little smiles Toddy threw him while standing outside the Count’s dressing room were the highlight of his day. He had fantasized about flirting back or inviting Toddy out to dinner on his off-time, but the singer was clearly already involved with his younger counterpart. The flirty smiles must be no different than the ones Toddy had given Norma back at the beginning. Then there was still the fact that Squash didn’t know how his boss would react if he found out – notwithstanding the Boss’s own apparent sexual identity crisis.

Everything finally came to a head when they went to _Chez Luis_. Squash had looked forward to seeing where Toddy used to perform, and had been entranced by the older of the duo during their impromptu duet. Toddy preformed as he seemed to do everything in life, with such humor, style, and – _what was that French term?_ – laissez-faire. Then there had been a fight and they’d been arrested. (It still ranked slightly above being trapped out in the snow in only his pajamas for worst moment of this trip, being improved significantly by the presence of Toddy by his side.) 

He hadn’t expected his whole world to change when he’d finally dragged himself back to the hotel. But there had been his boss in bed with another man, and Squash had felt humbled. And free. If his boss, who had prided himself so much on his masculinity and had struggled so obviously with his attraction to another man, had reconciled his attraction and acted on it – shouldn’t Squash be able to do the same?

How could his night go from so low to such a high? From being arrested, to finding the freedom to admit to something he’s kept practically secret all his life? He’d spent decades building up his persona as a “rough, tough, son-of-a-bitch and football player” so that he wouldn’t be bullied – or worse – for being queer. Then to see his boss being willing to admit to homosexuality… Maybe it was time to show the world the true face of ‘Squash’ Bernstein.

It was with this new resolution that Squash crossed to the other side of the hotel, a spring in his step. Even if Toddy didn’t return his feelings, the man still deserved to hear in person that the Count had thrown him over for Squash’s boss. 

Toddy seemed surprised but pleased to see him when he opened the door. “Ah, Mr. Bernstein, I trust there are no more fistfights on the agenda for this evening? Have you seen Mr. Marchand and Victor? They seem to have escaped the lovely treatment of the local _gendarmes_.”

“I did.” Squash found himself blushing, “That is, I mean, they were… I didn’t mean to burst in on… You should know that they…”

“Oh, has Victor finally managed to get Mr. Marchand? Or perhaps Mr. Marchand has finally gotten her? Either way, that’s rather splendid. I assume we shall have this hotel room to ourselves then for the rest of the evening.”

“But I thought you two were lovers?” Squash was bewildered by Toddy’s good-humored reply – had the rumors of their affair been mistaken?

Toddy laughed. (He had delightful laugh.) “We were most certainly not. I’m afraid that, as your boss has by now surely discovered, Victor is in truth actually Victoria, rather than the other way around. As such, she has been an excellent roommate, an inspired protégé, and utterly the last person I would possibly want to take to bed.”

Squash had only a few moments to dwell on what this meant for his boss’s inspiring reveal of homosexuality if the man in bed with him had actually been a woman (pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman) … 

“Come, I insist you have a nightcap with me. We wouldn’t want to disturb the new lovers, now would we? At least any more than whatever happened earlier, apparently. And you know I never like to leave a handsome man all alone.”

Still emboldened, despite the surprise revelations, Squash shyly replied. “That was why I came here, you know. I couldn’t bear to see a wonderful guy like you left all alone.”

Toddy beamed at him, sidling closer as he poured out two glasses and toasted to new beginnings.


End file.
